A digital video broadcast system allows a multiple system operator (MSO) to deliver television programs and multimedia services to subscribers. The capacity, or bandwidth, of the system determines the programs and services that the MSO delivers. In legacy broadcast systems, the MSO sends all of the available programs and services to the subscriber's set-top box on a single cable. Thus, the only way to increase the programs and services available to subscribers in legacy broadcast systems is to increase the bandwidth.
Switched digital video is an improvement to the legacy broadcast systems that requires less bandwidth to deliver high-bandwidth digital services by allowing the MSO to send only the content requested by a service group, where each service group includes a set of set-top boxes with visibility to a common set of switched edge quadrature amplitude modulator (QAM) devices. To make this possible, the subscriber's set-top box communicates with a network side video server to request the program that the subscriber wants to watch in real time. The switched digital system responds by delivering the requested program to the subscriber's service group. Thus, the service group only receives the programs that subscribers in the service group are watching. In addition, the switched digital system collects data on the usage of the set-top boxes and reports this data to the MSO.
The assignment of service groups in existing switched digital video standards and protocols uses switched edge QAM devices to determine the service group. These standards do not define a message or method to autonomously segment the set-top box population into service groups, or send the group number to a set-top box client. Thus, in a legacy broadcast system, the issue that arises is the assignment of a service group to each set-top box when there are no switched edge QAM devices to distinguish the service groups, thereby allowing the set-top boxes to benefit from the advantages provided by a switched digital system.
There is a demand for a method and system to assign a service group to a set-top box where no switched edge QAM devices are visible to the in-band tuner. The presently disclosed invention satisfies this demand.